Nature Notes, March 2002

I have long been interested in Natural History but despite a recent leaning
towards butterflies it is bird watching which has been a passion since the age
of seven. The past few weeks however have been above average with some outstanding
sightings.

My wife, Ann, and I were returning from one of our circular walks to Dallinghoo
in December and as we came to Byng Brook we spotted a party of five Tree Creepers
foraging for their last meal of the day.

The next day I noticed movement in the flower bed under the kitchen window.
After a moment a Weasel appeared carrying a mouse. The mouse was dropped on
the path and the Weasel returned to the flower bed only to emerge minutes later
with another mouse which was taken into the front garden. In time the busy little
carnivore returned, picked up the first victim and made off towards the front
garden.

The short cold snap of late December to early January has seen four Robins
feeding together without fighting, an unusual event, and I managed to count
ten Long Tailed Tits on the peanuts at one time; previously nine has been the
maximum on several occasions but not until now the perfect ten.

On New Years Day while watching a small party of Snipe feeding in fields
at Aldeburgh I remarked that although Snipe are usually about they are difficult
to spot due to their superb camouflage and secretive manner but a bird you will
not see is a Woodcock.

Two days later I thought the bird at the bottom of the garden was a partridge,
when I picked up my binoculars I was astonished to identify a Woodcock. How
I wished for a good camera and a telephoto lens. Remaining all day this solitary
bird came close to the house on two occasions so I snapped most of a roll of
film with our modern day version of a Box Brownie through double glazing; I
am not too hopeful of the outcome!

The next day the bird returned to explore the few remaining areas of our
grass and flower beds it had not pulled worms from the previous day and after
dozing under the privet hedge a couple of times decided to look for pastures
new. In the afternoon I took some kitchen waste to the compost heap and as I
returned through the orchard a shrill cry sounded and a black and white bird
shot up from the pond and was gone in seconds. The habitat and appearance indicates
it was a Green Sandpiper, the first I have seen.

On the seventeenth of January our neighbour spotted a Heron on top of our
conifers overlooking the pond, fortunately it decided against closer inspection
of our goldfish and that evening we saw a Barn Owl in Ufford, the first sighting
for some time.

The evening of the twenty-first was so mild that two of our resident Newts
which live under a conservatory were out looking for a meal, was this really
January?

We took a walk along Byng Hall Road to see if the local sheep had started
to lamb. We counted two all white ones and seven jet black lambs, how fitting
to see so many catkins in the hedgerow on the way home. Snowdrops have made
a wonderful show in our garden this year, also Crocus, Miniature Iris and Winter
Jasmine; it is uplifting to see the first flush of colour in late winter.

At the end of our most recent walk we stopped to investigate a tinkling sound
from a bramble bush and were rewarded with a very close encounter with a pair
of Goldcrests. A reminder that now is the time to clean out nest boxes which
have been used winter sleeping quarters as well as putting back in position
those boxes taken down last autumn.

All of the above goes to show it helps to know what you are looking at or
listening to but most of all you need a great deal of luck to be in the right
place at the right time.